


Whovengers

by hatressoflore



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Sarah Jane Adventures, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Torchwood
Genre: F/M, Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-01
Updated: 2014-07-30
Packaged: 2018-02-07 00:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1878897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hatressoflore/pseuds/hatressoflore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When SHIELD warns UNIT it must adapt or die, Kate Lethbridge Stewart fights tooth and nail to prove it is surviving and thriving, even if they don't have superheroes on their side. Thus, surviving, badass people from the Doctor's past are bundled into a new team, with complications arising when one of them finds out their past has changed everything, right down to their DNA, and some of the marvel villains decide to give this new team a baptism of fire. Plus, there's a crossdressing, alien future companion who will do anything in his power to stop his boredom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Kate Lethbridge Stewart decided that Zygon’s were far easier to battle than any sort of politics, and sighed deeply as she shuffled a large wad of purely for show paperwork, trying her level best to keep her cool at the SHIELD operative standing opposite her. 

‘‘I know how you feel about the organisation, Miss Stewart; but you need to do what is in the best interests of your country. Your American branch has already been shut down due to decreasing successful activities, and even the very roots of it have only been proved to avoid seven national emergencies over five years. We believe it is best for the worldwide community if you stop playing soldiers and allow a peaceful absorption into SHIELD international.’’ 

She aimed her best piercing gaze to the eyepatch, concentrating on projecting a look of cold contempt, her mouth unused to producing sneers.  
Not a mere operative, then. 

Nick Fury. 

On her father’s grave, she’d be damned if she let him win the argument. 

‘‘Well, Mr Fury, even if the more fame hungry extra-terrestrials flock to your nation’s grounds, we still have our own. Most of them are problems, which we deal with accordingly. But there is one ally in all this you would do best not to get on the wrong side of.’’ She was disgusted with the figure he pulled before her, obviously mangled fact – the government would never declare national emergency status unless it was browning its trousers, she would happily thrust all the stacks of paper she had to work with over the years into his face and see if he questioned them then. 

‘‘The Doctor.’’ He said, revealing a smirk that, were she less controlled, she would dearly want to smack off. 

‘‘You of all people, suddenly a skeptic?’’ She scoffed, half wishing they were in the middle of some alien invasion so she could prove her personnel in action. 

‘‘No. I’ve read the files. Just because he’s helped out doesn’t mean you should be so dependable on him.’’ She rose from her chair, looming over the still seated man, fingers tapping on the desk in irritation. 

‘‘This organisation is in my blood, Fury, and if you think your superheroes are better than us, I’d be happy to prove you wrong. We have discovered the partial resurrection of Gallifrey, we have battled Sontarons, Zygons and Vervoids, and we could battle your Loki’s, your Killain’s and countless more if they were on our soil. UNIT will stand long after I am laid to rest and I will not allow it to be mocked. This is my life Fury, and I will not allow you to go and trample on it!’’ Her voice, which started steady, began to rise, shaking slightly, till it turned so loud and steely it would fuel a thousand rumours of just how she’d like his head served on a plate. 

She sat herself down, brushed herself off, and looked awkwardly for a clock or something else to stare at, anxious at the sudden loss of her composure. It was at that time, very well planned, as always, that Malcom decided to come in with a tray of two black coffees, a small sachet of cream, and a stack of custard creams and malted milks, mixed together. 

‘‘Sorry, both – I hope I’m not interrupting too badly. It’s wonderful to meet you, Fury, and you have to try at the least one of the – cookies, you’d call them, although they really aren’t, as a gesture of good will. It is unfortunate you can’t dip either in tea.’’ He glared at the coffee’s he was holding, the idea that tea was the only acceptable beverage for meetings and alliances, not to mention dunking biscuits in engrained into his mind. 

He was even wearing the oversized scarf Osgood had lent him, that he refused to give back. If Fury had read the files, it wasn’t going to help her establish they were independent of the Doctor.As it was, he let out a small smile, clearly thinking it a victory. 

‘‘I’m not just your caterer today, I’m Malcom Taylor, scientific advisor to UNIT, and I’m here to help Miss Stewart show you our new plans. Also, if you shut us down, I have no doubt the blue box slamming into your door will make some very expensive damages. Which you’ll deserve.’’ Another glare was shot at Fury, and Kate dearly wished he was a little less zealous in adoration of the doctor. 

Fury had now settled into a grimace, and was idly pushing a biscuit around the plate instead of eating it, thus increasing Malcom’s adversity tenfold.  
‘‘I understand how much this means to you, honestly, but I wouldn’t make plans if I were you, making new policies will not cover up old facts. I’ll listen to you, but you have to be prepared for the worst. If it’s meant to be, the Lethbridge Stewarts will save this, regardless of any Doctor.’’ 

‘‘It’s linked,’’ Malcom admitted, turning around and turning on a projection screen, their whole business plan on a PowerPoint, to prove just how high tech equipt they were. ‘‘But, it’s also linked with the success of the avengers. We’ve rounded up the most capable past companions, friends and allies of the Doctor, to protect the United Kingdom when their intense past experience may be the key to saving our nation. Two of our candidates have been enhanced from their time with him, but the others are the old fashioned type of heroes, very human, very, very brave, and very much as good as any of your superhumans. Here, Mr Fury, sir, are their profiles, and they will prove how good we are.’’ He handed out six cards, with the details of the candidates meticulously covered, and the look he gave showed how much confidence he had in the idea. 

‘‘There was going to be a digestion period anyway, to help allow for changes in scope and management, but I’m giving you this chance. The word has heard of SHIELD far more than it’s heard of you. You may want to hide forever, but if you want to aid your people, you’ll need to make yourself more known, like it or not. We’ll talk again after I’ve heard of the group’s first success. If it comes,’’ he paused, looking like he was in two minds, obviously going over something in his head, ‘‘and’’ he bit into a custard cream, one of the last remaining, that neither Brits had managed to see were dwindling rapidly, ‘‘ship over some of these. They’re good.’’  
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..  
Rani was inspecting the entire contents of the hallway, looking for another gadget to throw in her already fit to burst bags.  
‘’You know, Ran, Sarah Jane never packed the kitchen sink with her.’’ Clyde teased, shaking his head at her unorthodox coping mechanism – bung in everything, everywhere whenever she could.

Ever since Sarah Jane was missing, presumed dead – a presumption that, over the years, the two had worked tirelessly to disprove with no results, Rani had taken to grabbing as many of her gadgets as she possibly could, from the sonic lipstick to the faulty things that only ever lasered them, rather than the villains they pointed it towards.  
‘‘We had to go prepared, Clyde,’’ Rani chided, ‘‘we have to be taken seriously by UNIT, we can’t let down Sarah Jane when we get there. If they need us, we’d better give them everything we’ve got, plus one,’’ she paused fo breath as she checked a small glass orb unsure whether it was a paperweight or alien technology that could come in handy, '‘Do you think they phoned Luke?’’

Ah, Lukeyboy, Clyde thought – they’d hear nothing about him since he was offered a job in New York as a science technologist for SHEILD, which Luke kept as secretive as he could even to them, saying something about strict, strict contracts, and had a lot to do with the ridiculous pay packet he wasn’t willing to give up.

He shrugged, before opening the door, and taking two of her bags, groaning under the weight of it until she opened the doors to the car.  
‘‘We are going to knock their socks off, Rani, even if it is just the two of us. Unless K9’s sneaked in. You there boy?’’  
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….  
She sneered – she had her own company of sorts now, thank ‘em very much, why in hell did she need UNIT?

She’d just get shouted at for interfering with the Managorian fellow she helped on that lay-by in Chepstow, who had a mould collection that nearly burnt a lovely little tea room to the ground, or the time she let one of her youngest volunteers keep the organic Dalek in the jar he’d pickled it in or… any one of the many, many times she had fucked with The Rules, capital letters.

Sod them.

That was why it was so difficult to imagine just why she was revving her motorbike towards their HQ.

She imagined it was because of their expert leg pulling, how they bribed her with the sentiment ‘the Doctor would be disappointed if you didn’t.’  
Despite the old bastard’s love of scheming, she only ever wanted to do right by the Professor. And sell Nitro nine in another planet’s black market, but she was already (in)famous across galaxies for that.  
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..  
Married life, although occasionally boring, in the lovely sedate way she treasured more than excitement sometimes, was a hell of a lot better than what she’d signed herself up to.  
She had nothing against the new head, not at all, she just had a lot of things against bribery and how she almost always succumbed to it if it was worded nicely enough, even if she did try spin up some sarcasm once in a while about it.

It was just going to be a hassle telling Mickey about it, which she hadn’t actually yet done, although the call was addressed to the both of them.  
After all, he’d risked time splintering in shards to get her some properly brilliant weaponry from Pete’s world – he always said that his trips were too short to do any damage, but always looked cocky when he came back with them, happy he’d proved the Doctor , in a slight way, wrong.

He was a bit of dickhead to the both of them – that was their initial bonding point.

Neither of them were overly prone to bitching, both found it distasteful in their own ways, Martha because she’d rather forgive, so that she could forget just how it felt like to be invisible, when all around you was discrimination, danger, and in the one, faithful year, a thousand and one death’s she saw, each replaying in her head every night before she went to sleep.

She’d have thought she’d forgotten the faces by then, and so many of them too. Quite obviously, she hadn’t.

They’d laugh and joke, and get silly drunk too often for them to consider themselves in any way responsible, and of course, binge watch trash tv together, enjoying the happy crap that seemed to dominate the telly, picking apart x files, star wars and red dwarf when they tired of it.  
His most important role, was holding her close, in a vice grip, whenever she let out how scared she was, whenever that long, colossal year played itself out when she should have been asleep.

That was why she felt guilty when she accepted for the both of them.

He, after all, had decided to do the unthinkable, and blended work and marriage, and despite the odd argument, they’d still managed to mix professionalism, alien hunting, comfort and having kicks from disgusting the public whenever they made public displays of affection, every barely hidden squirm a source of delight and snorted laughter. 

Turned out he knew.

‘‘You going?’’ She asked him, as casually as she could muster over dinner.

‘‘Don’t think I’ve got a choice, Miss Smith. You’ve booked us both in, haven’t you? ‘’  
He looked as stern as he did whenever he told her what he’d like to do to the Master if he showed up, for giving her the sleepless, cold blooded nights, for a moment.  
‘‘They’ve got guns. We’ve got bigger. I think – no, course we have. let’s just show them how much better the Smiths are than them. Wave our every victory right under their nose. Wipe the smiles off their faces. It’s gonna be fun.’’ He grinned.  
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….  
After the crap Torchwood had put him through; endless, unsatisfying therapy sex, delusions of cold godhood and lonely top ups of self-loathing, without coffee boy to lend a hand, he had sworn off team work.

Unless there was a blue box parked in front of him.

Even then, that was a stretch.

He bet, although he really should have thought of other things, that as long as he was companionless, which, seemed to Jack to be utterly impossible, any therapy sex with the Doctor himself would not follow the recent trend, and send a much needed zing back into his life.

As it was, he’d been asked by UNIT, and although he’d studied and admired the Brigadier’s work, it would take a miracle for him to be able to accept that on its own.

He was tempted though.  
He had a rather sudden – martini induced epiphany.

He’d always been shit at resisting temptation.  
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

They were not returning his calls.

He’d made nine hundred and sixty seven exactly, out of boredom, new to the concept of bills.  
None of those had been answered.

He supposed it was right to be cynical of someone, usually sounding like he’d jumped off as many cliffs as possible in one day, who insisted so many times they were from the planet Xenithto and incredulously abandoned by the Doctor on the dullest corner of the universe, in which everything was fraught with anxieties.

Their refusal to listen to him pissed him off so royally that drastic measures were to be taken.

Such as sitting on a tower of office chairs, singing as many off key Earth songs as he knew – which was exactly two, that he kept changing the words to, in his very finest dress – a long, elegant black number which he’d worn for days trying to copy his one human role model, Morticia, with nails fit to slay.

All that jazz, coupled with a stolen Cyberman’s gun – not sure why they needed one – was bound to get someone’s attention.


	2. Chapter two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We see team interactions, and another Marvel character joins the cast. A future BROTP is hinted at, and all the ladies love them some robot pooches - as a fellow lady, who wouldn't?

‘‘What on god’s earth were you doing out there? On second thoughts, don’t tell us, whatever it was there was alcohol involved. Right? Only one question really, Vodka or sangria. Say you won’t do it again, nod when we give you the number to the nearest hospital you clearly need, and let us live our lives in as much peace as the job permits, right?’’ The guard turned around and faced him wearily, wiping sweat from his bow after he’d peeled off his helmet.

From the look of things, Cadrolan thought, he’d been told to shit through a sieve.

He was happy with his little genius turn of phrase – of course the doctor discouraged such everyday poetry, and the TARDIS made it fucking impossible, but that problem, at least, was long gone.

He had he problem of being squeezed into a box room with a very disagreeable guard who smelt like vinegar and mud stains, with his back pressed up against a semi-open filing cabinet.

‘‘So, what’s he in for, Delfers?’’ A woman’s voice mocked both he and the guard, ‘‘I thought you’d stopped picking up random suspectables years ago.’’

The guard gave a look not so much withering as wishing for an end, and opened up the door.

Hmm, obviously a very secret, thoroughly organised venture, then. He thought, briefly, of asking if the guard could add five plus three, or his brain would just congeal, seeing how badly he was failing at the guard job description, namely, to guard, and not open to doors to random people.  
He decided better of it, but still had a fabulous cutting monologue going through his head, and turned his head to greet whoever it was who had barged in.

She was a very strong looking woman in her late thirties to early fourties, short but muscled, with cropped brown hair, and an undeniable air of being able to eat people for breakfast, if she so wished.

'‘He is a very big nuisance, Miss Mcshane, very big. Four times per hour has he rung headquarters, proclaiming himself as an alien companion of the doctor resolutely sick of Earth already, after he’d apparently left him, and since we had far more important matters than to actually listen to him, he decide to sing ‘we will not be moved’ very loudly. So loud and badly, in fact, we had several employees complain about our horrific animal experimentation.’’

She snorted, looking a lot less likely to kill him than he first thought.

'‘You’ve been known to be a big nuisance yourself before you sobered up here, mate,’’ she threw her arm around him, clearly far too casual for her unscheduled appearance to be fine with upper management.  
‘‘If he says he’s an alien, why haven’t you looked into it, that’s what the entire place is about, or so I thought –anyone would think you’d love one to walk in and hand themselves over for once.’’

‘‘Ace, he speaks too much like a middle class Londoner, and sings exactly like a drunk one, so he’s pretty obviously a rich alcoholic. Besides, look at the way he’s dressed,’’ Ah, thought Cadrolan, he was getting primed to kill, anyone who called him any of the many things they’d chosen to on his misadventure’s with the doctor automatically felt under the weather afterwards, ‘’He’s wearing that Halloween costume with neon socks- what respectable alien would actually wear neon?’’  
Her eyes then went downwards, looking with slight disgust at the offending articles.

'‘You would not believe some of the things the space donuts I saw wore. ‘Sides, I haven’t even heard him talk. What could possibly interfere with you getting through to him anyway, even it was just to humour him – you’ve checked into killer daffodils, before, haven’t you?’’

‘‘Hem hem hem,’’ Cadrolan wriggled around the ropes he was tied with to sit straight up, and give a good impression, ‘‘I’m speaking now, and I agree with her. What could be more important than me in this scabby little world - Anjelica Houston is up there, but I think an alien being should still come up trumps. If you don’t take me seriously I’ll have to shoot out my laser gunge, and forward you my dry cleaning bill.’’

The guard was counting backwards, trying to get to his happy place and away from the ensuing instantly – he was hired to shoot at Cybermen, defend Britain and occasionally get anecdotes from people who saw the back of the Doctor’s head that one time, not have interrogations go this awry.

Honestly, if it wasn’t for his pub crawl around Sheffield that ended in a squished inner Dalek, he’d have never let Ace in at all.

‘‘Does he sound like any of the space aliens you’ve met, or Jason Isaacs to you? How could we take that seriously, Ace? Director Fury, of SHIELD, no less, has been our priority for months heading up to his visit, and we could not afford to waste time.’’

She had to admit he sounded a bit like Captain Hook, but a lot of the more megalomaniac aliens she saw loved giving the impression of classically trained actors.  
She filed away the bit about Fury for further examination – everyone assumed she already knew every inner working of UNIT, that’s why she got away with murder, but half the time she really couldn’t be bothered to find out the beast someone reported was nothing more than an overweight, mangy cat.

She had looked into SHEILD, now there was a place that buzzed with activity, superhero here, supervillain there, serums, modifications and gadgetry everywhere. Aliens of late preferred the US, and UNIT wasn’t as pro latex, but a lot of the time she disproved greatly of their methods. Anyway, she wasn’t shocked to hear rumours of many, many moles.  
That didn’t, however, mean she’d pass up the chance to teach Black Widow a thing or two, if she ever met the girl in the flesh.

‘‘Well, I wouldn’t let him off just yet – a lot of aliens like seeming posh, gives them an ego boost. But,’’ she turned and faced him, her face suddenly ‘don’t fuck with me’ again; ‘‘I can tell that’s a bluff about the goo. That has never happened to me, and I can assure you a lot has happened to me, and I know for a fact the first time for it wouldn't come from someone so lanky. You’ve claimed to travel with the Doctor – what does he look like, then?’’

‘‘Different every time, he never mentions his companions, he’s always very brooding about what happens to you all, and who knows, maybe he’s brooding about me to some girl now, even if I did have a tendency to piss him off. I know he’d tell me I’d broken some rule if I told you about his latest body. I know that he visited this place most frequently in his third form, his home planet, which has had a very turbulent history, is Gallifrey, and his TARDIS is the most wonderful thing. He also is prone to bouts of self-loathing, self-lauding, and for a few bodies liked getting quite frisky, if you can imagine it.’’

Ace’s face looked like Kermit the frog's as she tied her Doctor to that description. No. It must have been the skinny, fashion conscious, beaming one she’d seen on Google, she decided, brushing disturbing images as far away as possible.  
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………  
Darcy Lewis had not been looking forward to this assignment – yes, ok, she liked London very much, not just for Ian, who was cute, but flaked out so badly when it came to long distance, and she did wish she could have seen more of it, but away from mom, pop, Jane and big guy, as well the taco bells everyone turned to in moments of guilty hangover’s, and yummy Chick-Fil-A by a whole country wasn’t too appealing.

Sure, she would get paid a shit ton, and Fury pretended her position was important, but she was being handed over to some semi functional alien butt kicking place that was apparently reliant on some medical professional, to make sure people actually did something.

She knew he had just picked the most dispensable person he could think of, someone who could do a job he said but didn’t feel mattered without being missed, apart from her family, few friends and Jane and Thor, who would probably forget about her if she had to stay for two long.

It was all made worse when she turned up to alien butt kicking HQ, and couldn’t get in with her swipey lock opener, and the skies were just as grey as the movies said, and rumbling.

Still, she could see a great, hot consolation coming her way, and though he was pretty far away, damn was he cute.

‘‘Hey, what’s the problem, sweetheart?’’ He walked behind her, arms open with a huge smile and eyes that didn’t mean it. Not only, she decided, after taking a look, was he cute, but he was also a fellow American. Win win.

She flipped her key card to show him.

‘‘Fellow American, huh? What did you do to end up here? Darcy Lewis, by the way – and wow, nice hair.’’ And eyes. And bottom.

‘‘Jack Harkness, thanks for the compliment,’’ he nodded his head in a mini bow and took out his hand to shake with hers, grinning wildly, ‘‘and actually, I was invited. No way am I going to do what they asked me to, however nice the card they sent was. I might as well not be an American, I’m an honorary Brit now, I’ve lived here so long. Where are you from across the pond?’’ God, was it hard keeping up his old persona, Jack thought, even with a girl like this one, with a very nicely cut shirt underneath her jacket.

Ok, she thought, this was one of the few that Fury had emailed her about and a very interesting future partner indeed, not just for the tightness of his trousers.

‘‘Well, I’d moved to the big Apple a few years ago, and everything went crazy. My job is dumping me here now. I wish that I could have told them no, I think my boss would blink twice and send me on a plane anyway. What kinda job lands us here in place like this though?’’ she prodded, ready to check how weird his job was so she could share hers.

‘‘I was a pilot first, then a Captain, but that went weird so I traveled a bit, got myself a little team together afterwards in Cardiff, that fell through, badly, I’ve been freelance ever since, and that’s the easy story to tell. We all get into this shit because of the Doctor, don’t we, but he’s worth it. Well, at least his ass was, last time I checked.’’

Ok, so he knew the wacko medic, and apparently had a thing for him? She needed to know just what he was.

What they both were, considering Fury had fed her table scraps of info about the man they were almost joined at the hip with.

‘‘Alright, who is this Doctor, because from what I’ve figured out, he does a whole lot more than play with scalpels and stethoscope people. The reason I’m the only one who doesn't think he craps rainbows is because I’m from SHIELD, and Fury never bothers to tell me anything. I'm little miss dispensable.’’

Plan 'pretend you have no idea who the fuck the Doctor is' was going quite well, even if she had to admit she knew hardly anything of merit anyway.

‘‘SHIELD has Tony Stark, right, because he is something else. Tell the playboy philanthropist I can hold a better party next time you see him, just in case he takes me up on that.'' he jested, arrogantly, grin Cheshire sized, ''but I can't tell you too much about the Doc; although, if you're here you know he has m ore than something to do with aliens. You've probably heard about the TARDIS at least once, if your boss is competent, and that's about all I can tell you. Glad to be of service.'' He bowed; knowing full well he'd said nothing of use. 

‘‘Great, thanks for giving me the background, but I kinda need to you to help me in now. Also, Fury told me some things, at least, and now I’ve figured out who you are, you’re not allowed to fuck off anymore.’’

He had tried to decide he was going to be the brooding hero sort – he deserved it, after all, with all he’d done, but it was nice, wasn’t it, to pretend, and he was feeling more than nice flirting, having briefly forgotten its benefits.

‘‘But Miss Lewis, what exactly did he say about me?’’  
He winked, the fucker.' ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………  
So far Rani and Clyde had seen a woman in the distance being helped to open the door by an older, taller man, a parked motorcycle with most of the paint off, and just one car in front of them, never mind that K9 was getting antsy, because Clyde had decided to download Mr Smith onto his smartphone in case anything was off with Unit, and the two still found a way to bicker, in the way of robots and computers.

‘‘I knew we weren't the only ones, but I didn’t think they’d got a whole team in – and they didn’t even give us solid information. Maybe they’re gathering all her friends to find Sarah Jane, maybe she’s on a different planet and that’s why they never found a body – oh, Clyde, wouldn't that be fabulous?!’’

Of course it would, but that was not why they were there, all of them would love her back, no question, and take any chance of finding her in a heartbeat, but as hard as Rani found it to accept, she was gone.

'‘Maybe, Rani, the Doctor’s rounding up a team to go into the TARDIS permanently; God, wouldn’t you love that, I mean it was so awesome after her wedding, but we were only in there for a second God, think about how man rooms that place must have. I bet it has a swimming pool too. It’s just go to – I mean who wouldn’t have a pool if they could, right? We are going to dive in space, that’s what it’s about.’’ Despite the small possibility of it being the truth, and the fact that he was petrified of diving boards, he was working himself into a frenzy of joy at the possibility.

‘’Statistical probability of either scenario is 0.0023%, chirped in K9, ‘’but my contemned levels would rise to optimum in either situation – seeing master in his home again or seeing mistress, and telling her what a good dog I’ve been.’’

Even Mr Smith must have quietly sniffed at that, poor dog.

'‘Yeah mate,’’ he bent an arm down to smooth him, as Rani handed a spot on his ear ‘‘really good boy.’’ ‘‘The best.’’  
When they finally parked, they saw the owners of the other cars get out, a black couple each dressed in high quality leather bodysuits, the woman looking like a fourth Charlie’s angel.

Rani bounced out to leave Clyde carry her bags once more, eager to meet, and make friends and sense alike.

‘‘Hi, Rani Chandra, my boyfriend, Clyde Langer’s in the back, with K9 – we used to work with Sarah Jane. Do you have any idea what’s going on, or are you two both as in the dark as we are?’’

It had been a while since anyone was as enthusiastic to see them, Martha thought, and despite hubby looking rather grumpy she quite enjoyed the attention.

‘‘Oh my God – I’ve heard about her, so sorry, but it’s great to meet you – oh, she must have been amazing…to answer your question, not really, but as a former employee and medic they may want me back to do check-ups on the aliens, or officers – that was the only thing I could think of, but when they invited my husband too, I was stumped, and seeing you has stumped me more. But it’s lovely to see someone so enthusiastic, and I hope we come out of whatever this is as friends.’’

Mickey, however, was less courteous, ‘‘Why did you bring the tin Dog, we really didn’t get on last time.’’

He then remembered Martha said sorry about Sarah Jane, knowing something he didn't, that sounded very, very bad - he'd loved her when he saw her, a great example of happiness and thriving after the TARDIS, wanting to tell the girl, who looked even more like a teenager fresh from school when the sadness hit her eyes of losing her mentor, that she was truly one of the bets people he'd known, unable to find the right words.

'‘Well,’’ said Rani, getting towards her defensive, ‘‘he’s a very, very good dog now, and not to be insulted, even if he is a bit like a living calculator, and what do you mean about last time?’’

Martha was wondering what he meant by tin dog, before it somehow got out of the car near them, and turned its metal ears around.

‘‘Well, metal or not, he is a very cute dog.’’ Martha said to ease tensions, stooping down to pat him,. Even if she felt very self-conscious, suddenly reminded of her long time yearning for a pooch companion that she’d asked Mickey for at least once a month routinely.

‘‘How could you not get on with this, Mr Smith? I’m shocked with you – I bet he even likes belly rubs – or would do, if he wasn’t so square and could actually roll over.’’  
He started beeping in protest, and a sarcastic voice came out, saying, ‘’I am treated as a sufficiently domestic being already by my Master and Mistress, I do not need ‘belly rubs’ added to the ways I resemble a real canine.’’

Mickey grinned at his withering assessment.

‘‘Clever dog, learning sarcasm – he picked that up from me.’’

What he didn’t know, was that the robot found both Mr Smith’s equally irritating.  
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………  
That was how Fury, Malcom and Kate Lethbridge Stewart saw his SHIELD agent that they had no idea was coming to snoop around on them, who was gazing rather cheekily at Jack, the required team members, plus one robot dog who really should not have been allowed in, and that infuriating prank caller by Ace’s side, who shouldn’t have got in either.  
Miss Snoop started a small wave, and mouthing sorry, which only made her freeze up afterwards.

Forget tea, Kate sighed, she was going to need some very strong coffee, and some form of alcohol after work hours.

Fury, however, tried to strike a balanced glare between three targets, Darcy, who was ogling a man when she really should be standing next to him, at least pretending that she had some ferocity in her, and also looking at the dog like she really, really wanted to take the thing for walkies and play fetch with it; and the man with the Halloween costume and neon socks, who deserved, quite bizarrely in his opinion, less of a glare than the woman next to him, who looked like she was about to punch him.

The worst thing was, looking at her; he couldn’t predict who would win.

He had a niggling suspicion it wouldn’t be him, even though she was unarmed, untrained, and by all accounts should lose comfortably.

At least she was well suited to beat the snot out of aliens, he thought, trying to bury the feeling that he was already somewhat scared of her.

Underneath the tension; nervous from Clyde, Rani, and Martha, all anxious to be presented well, comical with the awkward SHEILD employee, the metal dog and supposed alien blowing on his nails as if he had no cares in any world, and violent from Ace, Jack, who had by now stopped giving Darcy looks back and focused on imitating batman, and Mickey; Malcom was thinking only one thing.

At least one person was going to throw cold tea on another, when he came round with it, weren’t they?


	3. Chapter three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get just a tad more interesting with two villains revealed...

It was bizarre, she thought to herself, that even after minutes, even when she could tell as soon as look at them that they were each undeniably fucked up in their own, intricate little ways, there was solidarity spreading through them.

Half, she hadn’t even talked to.

Especially the ‘maybe alien’, Cadrolan, who Ace had defended vhemently saying that to have an alien on their side was better than having the usual; and he may have abilities humans couldn’t dream of.

'‘If he was good enough for the doctor, he’s good enough for me,’' generated nods of agreement, and even though she had proof that was flimsy at best she was the sort of woman who could rouse people into believing stones could talk; and that only people like Fury would ever try to disarm.

She had to chalk it up to girl power when Miss Lethbridge Stewart wearily agreed to trial him at Ace’s request.

Fury was going to make his big, all encompassing announcements; she could tell by the deepness of his scowl, measuring it in the way she’d once perfected; but Martha looked like her mind had been abducted.

Which, she shuddered, was an actual possibility.

‘‘Are you..’’she left it at that, feeling Fury’s glare at the nape of her neck for disturbing his perfectly timed pause; besides, it was a useless question, Fury had said nothing at all, really, and the poor woman already looked like she was going to vomit.

By the time he’d managed to wrap his first sentence in a package fit for inspiration, Martha had staggered backwards, just for a moment, and Darcy’s spidey sense told her shit was truly about to go down.  
……………………………………………………………………………………………..  
It was background noise, but noise nonetheless; she was relieved she could hear it, Fury’s neat organisation of the group, spy, researchers, ground team, doctor, advisor, supervisor and tin dog; and the varied protestations that came with each announcement.

Rani simmered at the connotation of ‘researcher’ being lowest down on the list of things they needed, whilst Clyde was humbled to even be incorporated.   
Mickey mumbled at being seen as fit for brawn instead of the brains he had learned to acquire, Ace seemed happy, whilst Jack was already saying, ‘thanks, but no thanks’ in a variety of ways.

Darcy, the one that shouldn’t be there, was close enough to Rani and Clyde’s lower level of cynicism that Martha had decided she’d like her even if she doubted she was particularly qualified to do anything; and the '‘um, sorry for not carrying on the badass trend, but be kind to your babysitter,’' mini speech, brash, with obvious anxiety under it, just made her decide to like the girl more.

Her hearing, however sound, could not heal her vision, all greys and white clouds appearing in her eyes, a foil over them no amount of blinking could disturb; and she found herself caught up in it, as if it was a gentle, hushed lullaby rocking her to sleep in her mothers arms, something, in the moment, her mind refused to acknowledge as dangerous.  
It always started that way, cosy and cradling.

But it threw her in, cold and merciless, after that initial mother’s bond.

Typically, it was London or Japan; London because of the grim change it underwent, Japan because of the sheer, unimaginable horrors, but so many countries oblige filling in the gaps, even if Eastern Europe started to merge into one, and the tragedy of labour camps, once confined to the disgusting relics they were, reopening all round the place.  
Today, her mind had seen fit to pick a poky little place in West Virginia, which, just like the rest of America, she couldn’t even remember how she had traveled to; each state a blur.

She remembered writhing in the nights, the first remembrances of the ones she couldn’t save creeping up into her mind, and waking up, startled and saturated in a cold sweat, with her tricksy brain refusing to fill in the many blanks.

She relaised, hating the realization as soon as she had come to it, that she was probably about to see some details.

The recesses of her brain delved into a woman half dead, barely breathing on a cold slab, uncleaned scalpels making the smallest of incisions, vials and trials storming through her bloodstream, contributing to a dirty mercy she had no idea of.

She felt a pang, just as seismic as the ones she had felt bleed out from her on that world that no on else could recall, and felt a set of cold shivers trickle down her spine,making her bite on half screams.

Once the leading trails of agony had gone, her eyes saw only steel, and the whole of her body felt unreal, as if it could be walked through, and her mind was becoming so, beige so blank part of a hive of nothings, as every memory of love, returned so brilliantly from Mickey, cast from the Doctor’s heart; the apprehensions she had felt entering UNIT, and   
the solidarity she had felt standing with her team, were becoming, pixel by pixel, harder to recall.

When she finally could make a sound, the one that escaped from her mouth was a monotone, tinny growl, and every thought that did not control was gone.

Her hand jerked out, her eyes slanted, sideward and down, and though she saw a room, with people brought to unite, behind it she saw purpose, renewal, life as precise as it never could be.

She wanted, ever so dearly, order or death, no inbetweens allowed, her veins tingling with the prospect of unity and blood alike.

As the grey faded away, and her energy faded with it, reality peeled back, she couldn’t help but notice how afraid the others looked when they saw her.

‘‘What. The hell. Happened ?’’Asked Ace.

‘‘N – nothing, I’m fine, just a little overwhelmed, I mean, I haven’t been a proper medic for a long time now, it’s a bit overwhelming, really, but I’ll be fine. Better than fine.’’ She sounded firm, but her inner voice was tutting disapprovingly– Martha Jones, you unconvincing little liar – truth was what she expected from her patients, any less could kill them, on the wrong day, and she just told the fattest fib of her life.

Mickey turned, scowling to her, eyes full of concern despite the downwards turn of his lips.  
She could anticipate his gentle interrogation before they went to sleep, and how hard it would be to lie to him.

‘‘I know nothing,’’ he said, wordlessly, all in his eyes, ‘‘and that was not it.’’

She suspected it was a look everyone else duplicated.

‘‘Of course you're fine, brave solider.’’Cadrolan deadpanned, so far the only one on the team she disliked, annoyed Ace was his advocate when he was either silent or mocking.  
‘‘Just try to factor in how long you can keep that bravery up.’’ 

That was it, Mickey was going to beat him up, wasn’t he – fight for his lady’s honour even if the bastard was right. She looked at him, and the clenching of his fists, the way his nostrils flared, before his face was retooled as his normal one. 

The fight was going to wait.

‘‘You want us to be a team, and you allow him in? That really isn’t a polarising decision, the straw to break the camel’s back. Like I said, not on board, as much as I love the whole reunion.’’Jack sneered.

Fury and Kate both elected to ignore him, Malcom twiddling his hand, wishing he was elsewhere.

The Lethbridge Stewart then flipped a ringing smartphone from her pocket, glaring at its message.

‘‘I’ve had an incoming red alert from Cowbridge, around Cardiff, and whether or not you like your alliances, there are undoubtedly people who will benefit from you. Would the Doctor leave them alone?’’

Yes. 

He laughed harshly, he did, not so very long ago, and precious times before and after – but whatever the Doc’s shortcomings, which were beginning to seem to belong to a long, long list, the guilt trip was already working on him. 

Damn.  
‘‘Maybe. He isn’t a saint, not by half, and I’d expect you to know that. Either way, I’ll go today. What happens afterwards will be my choice – got it?’’ He could die and live again at any moment, he really wasn’t going to be bothered to care about whether or not he annoyed them.

Cadrolan contained similar scorn, his lip curling downwards as he sniffed, remembering all of the Doctor’s anxieties in a cooking pot, that often spat and hissed and burnt, before he started a new, and the ingredients only simmered lightly, ready for something to flare at.

‘‘Good. I will persuade you, I can promise, but if needs be you can let yourself pretend you need persuading. None of you are getting off – this is precisely what you were created for. Fury, I think it will do you good to be taken down a notch, see what we handle, and your assistant can come with, too.’’

As soon as she nodded, very slightly, guards escorted them from the room, to the back exit of headquarters, the final part of the sprawling base; and into a huge Unit van, which they all doubted, despite the expansive size, could fit them all.

Clyde carried k9, who was protesting the indignity of it, to the lifts and all the way down, but the dog ended up just in front of Fury’s feet, both of them loathing their position; with Rani and Clyde finding themselves squished by Darcy, Ace by Jack, Martha with Mickey and Cadrolan squeezing in his breaths between Kate and Fury.

Everyone shot knife looks at the driver, the only one of them with space to move.

Well, thought Darcy, struggling to move to get remotely comfortable, she was certainly gonna get to know them better.

Kate talked to her directly for the first time.

'‘You’ll soon find out location is more than a little obsolete – plenty happens in London, it is a capital city – but oddly enough, plenty more always happens in Cardiff.’’  
She had heard of it only vaguely, in world war z, but she had assumed with just one movie set in it, and her lack of knowledge or care about the place, that nothing would happen there.

Still, she thought exactly the same thing about her life, before Thor came down – and afterwards, if she’d had to admit it. It never really went away; the feeling that, yes, she was allowed to observe, but anything more ambitious? Ha.

Interesting lives were for interesting people, and despite the fact she had seen interesting things, she doubted she would ever become one.

‘‘So,’’ she started, awkwardly shuffling, ‘‘you kids seem fresh outta school; what are you doing here, with that lil’ dog of yours? I guess I’d better start learning about all you guys if I’m gonna have to check up on you. Something tells me you won’t need it anyway.’’

Something told her, that once again, she’d be dispensable, and god knows, looking around at every other person, that was going to be spot on.

‘‘Well, we won’t need it,’’ Rani asserted, in half-hearted snappiness, ‘‘but it will certainly be an interesting job for you. Although, I have to wonder whether we’ll be as interesting as the superheroes you deal with.’’

She snorted aloud at that.

‘‘You think I deal with them - I hardly get to see ‘em walk out of rooms, let alone deal with them. I tasered one of ‘em, felt up his abs a little and been a third wheel on his trip to London, and I’ve given about twenty others coffee, and ten small talk. Hopefully this new job will be a little more involving. Anyway, I’ll be squished up right by ya both for a few hours, the least you can do is give me a little backstory.’’

Rani winced at the mention of a backstory, knowing full well it would be Sarah Jane this and Sarah Jane that and then a vague, she went away and then, then she’d have pity that she didn’t want off a complete stranger, and the reporter part of her, the part that always wanted an interview, with anyone she’d just met who seemed vaguely interesting was being hushed down by anticipation of that pity, and having most of the story sound like she was dependant on other people; whether one of her best, best friends, or her boyfriend.

Luckily for Darcy, Clyde had no such fears, and was as social as always.

 

‘‘Yeah, well, if the TARDIS stops by, you really are going to have a lot of fun, but you can bet some extra-terrestrials will be here anyway. You wouldn’t believe the things we saw – never any superhero’s, though I’d love to meet Iron Man, or maybe Thor – just great big, ugly aliens – some of them even kept on farting when they tried to kill us – they’ve raised a huge stink. As for our backstory’s well, that would take ages, and Rani’s better with girly chats. So what’s America like – I couldn’t go to New York with school because we had to fight some deranged Slitheen, again – the farting ones – what’s American eagle like, are Wendy’s and taco bell any good?''

Rani smiled lazily at how his topic of conversation changed from gaseous aliens to things in America he’d never been to; his enthusiasm, however silly was always infectious.

‘‘Crap, usually, ditto with the food. Chipotle is way better – be jealous you Brits don’t have it – what the hell do you have anyway? You a couple, because you seem kinda cute. You should, however, know that Americans never give up if they want some nice, juicy info on ya. I’d like to hear Rani talk.’’

Clyde had a flash of a blush and went all wriggly, avoiding trying to reclaim the conversation trying to squirm away from the guess as he always did, leaving her so glad she was the one to talk next.

‘‘Sure, Darcy; and don’t knock our food – we have jammy dodgers; and they clearly count for something. I suppose his body language tells you everything you need to know about that question. We were normal kids, until we met Sarah Jane; a fabulous, fabulous woman; a reporter who traveled with the doctor, and saw him even afterwards; and she taught us everything. If I never knew her, the world would be completely normal, everyday; but we saw an alien that obviously watched Stephen King's It one too many times, the Slitheen, a girl with scarlet skin trapped in a fair, and so much more. Sarah Jane’s not here anymore, whatever’s happened to her; but we’re taking everything she taught us. K9 was hers, then her adopted son’s; but when he went to America to work, after everything that had happened, he gave him to us to look after, even though he needed him more.’’

She tried to stop the groan that escaped her mouth, reeling from telling her too much, even if, in the grand scheme of things, it was hardly anything. 

‘‘Sounds like the dog has a more exciting life than I do,’’ she joked, hoping it wasn’t actually true because damn, damn, damn it if was, ‘‘she sounds great. I’ve heard about the Doctor, but she sounds just as brave.’’

Rani wondered, not for the first time, if her old friend and mentor was braver than the Doctor.

He had a billion faces, or thereabouts, waiting for him if he got himself into trouble, and could go anywhere and any when for anything; to relax or to erase his memories, and he littered about strays like a shedding cat lady – Sarah Jane, now, she stayed with them, till whatever her ending was.

‘‘She was, and maybe, maybe even braver.’’ Rani became reflective then, mouth kept sewn shut as she looked out of the window, as wistfully as someone who was in a very bumpy and other wise uncomfortable car ride could muster.

Darcy turned to Clyde, thinking he was the one that would give more information; reading files with very, very short information was hardly the overreaching explanation she deserved.

‘‘So, about the other obvious couple – do you know anything about Martha and Mickey; I mean, she seemed to zone out pretty bad in the middle of the prep talk we were given.’’

‘‘No, never saw either of them before now, though Sarah Jane mentioned them once or twice. I don’t think Mickey was ever a full time companion; but they both seem more touchy about the Doctor than anyone else here – I mean, he’s brilliant, but I bet even he can’t be perfect, with the way they tense up at his name before they smile and joke about him. He was great with me, though, both times – both faces...though the second time he was more than a little cuckoo.’’

She wondered over whatever the faces comment meant- she knew he had many aliases, but that was more than suspicious.  
What the hell was Fury trying to hide from her anyway, she’d met an alien before, lots of them, actually, seen explosions and people with so much power in their little finger they weren’t even human anymore, what in hell she could possibly be freaked out by?

Mickey sighed deeply as he figured out they were talking about him and Martha – she really needed rest, after whatever that blackout was, not interrogation, or people snooping around like they had a right to do so, clutching her hand as she drifted off into sleep, looking peaceful, thankfully.

Darcy observed him at first scowl, then hold onto Martha’s hand, and wondered why exactly they were the two tensed up ones, although they were nothing compared to Ace.  
‘'Ok, so, I get that Jack here isn’t exactly happy go lucky either, even if he is flirty; but what’s the deal with Ace, she looks like she could snap any body’s head in half, but I’ve seen her smile a bit too, and she saved that entitled whatever he is from whatever was gonna happen to him.’’

Clyde furrowed his brow, looking comical in his first display of complete seriousness.

‘‘Well, she never mentioned her, but me and Rani did a bit of research on the past companions she had mentioned – there was hardly anything for Martha or Mickey, both of them had around a year wiped off from the internet, and neither of them use Facebook or anything much, but Ace co founded some sort of charity, and there was a paper online Rani found about her working with somebody called Liz Shaw on some explosives. That’s why she looks so ‘don’t mess with me’, I guess. I don’t even know why you’re asking me, I mean, we know the least out of anyone hear, even with k9 being a living computer – we’ve only seen the Doctor twice, and we’re the youngest here. I don’t know how we’re even hear, but Rani will get competitive, I can tell, just like when we were worried about her, missing out on looking up some potential threats, and we found out that she’d been working for two days straight on an article for a young journalists competition, and she ended up nearly sleeping on k9 afterwards.’’

She wondered, briefly, just how young they were, and decided she liked Rani already, even if she was a little distant – she had energy, just the opposite to her boyfriend’s. 

‘‘Ok, one last question – does he eat anything, your sort of dog- do you throw bones for him, or does he just live on batteries and formulas? Does he like chasing cats at all?’’

Clyde laughed, grinning widely, ‘‘nope, he lives on maths, the best pet for Lukey boy; but he would have a go at the local moggies if we let him out – he’s not very inconspicuous. The funniest thing was when he tried to copy other dogs for a while, and started barking at the moon in that squeaky metal voice – the neighbour’s made so many noise complaints. He’s a bit like Pinocchio really, he might love his brains, but I bet he’d like to be a real dog – he can hardly chase tennis balls looking like that, can he?’’  
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..  
Cold and merciless ruling was their every step in the game of chess that they were playing with the world, and even as order usually bored him, the anarchy that they generated was a glorious thing to behold.

He knew it was utterly illogical, that allegiance which he had made in haste, but logic was hardly for him anyway, even if he did plan and labour, whims were, as well, always to be acted upon.

They had loathed him, seeing he was not ripe for the order they wished for their and every wold, but he told them , surely, in such calculated minds as they held, they could see the benefits of an alliance, could they not?

Even with they, who claimed to be above such things, flattery still wove its way into their good graces.

He wondered why on earth they had gravitated to such a small place, and he had wondered at the formation he saw before him, of the weakest of mortals, none even powered as those they had styled themselves upon; all of them just as weak and breakable as a civilian, and he had smiled seeing the shaken one shiver at their plans.

Taking a step into their pasts, however, he could see something different – that all of them were equipt, if unpowered, and the revelations of the immortal one turned his smile into a grimace, plus the suggestion that burdened him, that the shaken one had more to her, far , far more.

Seeing the amount of firepower the older woman had also made him surprisingly fearful, before his ego returned.

He settled down, reminding himself that the enemy of those he had paired with was not guaranteed to interrupt – in the immortal’s most needy time, that magic man was elsewhere and unknowing; and even if he did, he was fascinating enough to enjoy.

It could very well be the most interesting revenge he could have planned.

**Author's Note:**

> This will be ongoing, with more characters popping up in the next chapters - I hope you all like it, or tell me constructive crit in the comments, anything which I can worth with is great :)


End file.
